


Villains

by Thyme_Basalt



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Explosions, Flippant depictions of violence and mayhem, Fluff, Junkrat doesn't know if he and Roadie are villains, M/M, hostages
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2017-09-14
Packaged: 2018-12-29 18:48:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12091170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thyme_Basalt/pseuds/Thyme_Basalt
Summary: Junkrat becomes uncharacteristically self-reflective during a police shoot out.





	Villains

“Hey, Roadie, are we the villains?” Rat’s voice is muffled as his teeth clamp down on a stick of dynamite. His fingers work dexterously to tie two struggling hostages together, bushy brows furrowing in concentration.

Hog snorts at him, aiming his scrap gun down at the cops below their warehouse office window and unloading indiscriminately.

“I’m for real, mate!” Rat shouts back. He pats the pockets of his shorts frantically for a moment before he finds his lighter, flicking it open and closed a few times, smiling completely smitten at the open flame. The way he gazes into warm light, gooey-eyed and slack jawed, it's how he looks at Roadhog sometimes, in awe of how something so beautiful and dangerous could even exist. He holds the flickering flame to the fuse and tosses the stick to Roadie. “Live one comin’ at ya!”

“Fuck, Rat!” Roadhog barely catches the stick of dynamite between his thumb and forefinger, redirecting it out the open window and onto a cop car. The resulting explosion flashes reds and oranges into their little warehouse office, accompanied by the symphony of car horns and sirens. “A little more warning!”

“Sorry, Hoggy.” Rat giggles sheepishly. His fake fingers click against the metallic palm as he narrows his eyes in thought. “Wha’ was I sayin’? Oh yeah!” Rat snaps his head over to the man and woman, bound and gagged together. “Do ya think we’re villains?”

The two nod and shake their heads in all directions, eyes wide with the terror of not knowing what the correct answer is.

“These people think we are, Roadie.” Rat scoops up his grenade launcher and leans against Hog’s side at the window, plunging grenades down below. “What do ya have to say for that?”

“Matter of perspective.” Roadhog pushes Rat down by the head and crouches as a few bursts of return fire rain back at them. “You been readin’ again?”

“Uh huh!” Junkrat beams up at him, desperate for approval almost to a lewd degree. Fuck, Hog wishes he could resist that dumb face but he’s weak. He drops his hand down Rat’s patchy hair to rest his fingers on the back of his neck, rubbing it with his fingertips. Rat moans slightly as he gets lost in it for a moment before Hog pulls his fingers away. A small noise of complaint leaves Rat’s lips but he smiles, satisfied.

“In every story, there are good guys and there are bad guys, roight? So which are we?” Rat says, peeking up from the bottom of the window down at the gathered law enforcement.

“Life’s not always that simple.” This time Hog holds out a hand for a lit stick of dynamite and Rat happily obliges. Their faces glow like kids in front of a birthday cake from the resulting explosion.

“But if you had to say?

Rat is not letting up. Roadhog closes his eyes for a moment as he slaps scrap back into his gun. He feels just like those hostages who were asked the same question, not knowing what the right answer was and how not to make it blow up in his face.

“Sometimes we are.”

“Sometimes?!” Rat screeches, jumping to his unsteady feet. A big hand loops around his bicep and yanks him back to the floor as shots scatter around the room. “What do ya mean “sometimes”?”

A drone hovers its way through the window mounted with a camera gun or some shit like that. Hog demolishes the thing with his hook before it can try anything.

God, Rat picks the worst times to feel insecure. Just last week, while they were freeing all the animals in the Prague Zoo, he became agitated over the fact that he had never had a pet before. Roadhog talked him down from that one by letting him pet the stingrays in the aquarium. That helped him quite a bit, the calming softness of the creatures sliding across his hands.

“You wanted me to answer.”

“Well.. would a villain do this?”

Junkrat crawls away from the window before hopping up and approaching the bound woman. “Gimme yer phone.” She wriggles herself so she can pry the phone from her back pocket and tosses it to Rat. He fumbles around on it for a moment before showing her a contact. “This yer son?” She nods vigorously and he dials, whistling a casual, tuneless melody as he does.

“Mr. Uhh... Gregory?” Rat squints at the name on the phone before replacing it on his ear. “I wanted to let ya know that yer mother is just fine. She’s not hurt in any way. Yer… wha’s that? Ya didn’t know yer mum was a hostage? Yeah, yeah, with the Junkers, tha’s roight. Oh sheesh, not a good way to hear it from me then, is it?” Rat giggles nervously, picking at the hem of his shorts. “Well I’m callin’ ya to tell ya not to worry about her one tick. If we get out of this alive, she’ll get out of this alive!” Rat continues listening intently to the voice on the other side, sticking his finger in his ear to drown out sirens and hostage negotiators below. “We’re on TV? We’ve on TV, Roadie!” Rat holds his hand over the speaker like that will dampen his piercing hyena voice. “Tha’s great! Thank ya so much for tellin’ me! Oh, what’s that? Ya don’t begrudge us in anyway for the series of decisions that led us to taking yer mum hostage? Well, I appreciate ya sayin’ that. We all know that morality isn’t black and white, roight?”

A swift slap to Junkrat’s hand upends the phone out of it and to the floor.

“Hey!” Rat puts his hands on his hips. “I was having a pleasant conversation there.”

“Taunting a hostage’s family is something a villain would do.”

“I wasn’t tauntin’! I was comfortin’ him. Tellin’ him his mum was all roight.” Rat does his best to feign offence. He’s not a great actor.

Hog takes a knee in front of Rat, careful to make sure the bulk of his mass is between the window and his charge, holding out a hand to him. “Not like you to have self doubts. ‘Sweird.”

Rat gives a two shouldered shrug and leans his small weight against Hog, taking two of Hog’s fingers in his hands.

“Like you told that man on the phone, life isn’t always black and white. Sometimes we’re the good guys, sometimes we’re the bad guys.”

“Yeah?” Rat cocks his head and flips Roadie’s hand so he can hold his enormous palm in both of his hands. “How bout Sydney?”

“Trying to go legit? Killin’ one suit who tried to take advantage of us? Good guys.”

“London?” Junkrat offers. “Wait, did we go to London? Oh, yes, the Crown Jewels!”

“Those jewels were in a museum for the public. Probably bad guys.”

Rat is disheartened and tugs at Hog’s “F” ring until it comes free.

“Prague- we were good guys,” Hog reminds him. “Those animals were in cages.” Roomy, well-funded and cared for cages, but he doesn’t bring it up.

“An’ Dorado- we took money from the bank. Suits have to pay that back to people, so good guys! Oh and Madrid, we-” His smile fades and he wiggles the “F” ring over his wrist and down his arm absentmindedly. “No, we killed people there. Bad guys.”

“Tokyo was good. They liked me.”

“Wouldn’t be surprised if there was a Roadie Day there now. ‘Cause you’re so big and soft.” Rat reaches his fingers up to the mask and traces around the stitches on Hog’s snout, pinching the tip of it. “I know why I’m not a villain. Villains don’t care about people like I care about ya.”

Roadhog feels his ears turn red and he squeezes his hand lightly around Junkrat’s. He knows that’s not necessarily true about villains, but Rat’s reading level isn’t quite to the point where he’s consuming literature with nuanced and sympathetic antagonists.

“Which ones are we today?” Rat slides the ring back on Hog’s ring finger, subtly humming the bridal hymn.

“The ones who let hostages go.”

“Good guys.”

Hog grunts in agreement.

“Roight!” Junkrat leaps to attention and claps his hands together. “I’ve jus’ about had enough of bein’ stuck in this warehouse. Time to blow it sky high!” He makes eye contact with the horrified hostages and points finger guns at them, remembering. “After letting you two go, of course!”

Their most elegant solution to extracting the hostages from the impending decimation of the warehouse is to wrap the two in Hog’s chain and to leave them lowered them a couple feet out the window. Hostage negotiator screams at them, police scramble to secure the hostages, afraid at any moment they'll be dropped. Of course they won't be dropped as the Junkers make their way to the other side of the building, blasting a new hole and tearing out of the place on their chopper.

They are three blocks away, speeding out of danger on Hog's chopper when Hog notices how antsy Rat is. His finger dances around the red button on his detonator.

“Has it been long enough? They musta gotten 'em out by now.”

“Sure.”

Hog doesn't really care one way or another. He just wants to see that face. Rat spins around in his car and holds the detonator aloft.

“I dedicate this one to my Hoggy, the best good guy I know!”

The sound of the explosion hits first, a resonating boom and the cracking and snapping of wood. A warm, dangerous wind whooshes against Hog’s back and he grips his handlebars to keep in control of the vehicle. The whole block in front of him glows as the warehouse is engulfed in flames.

Nothing softens Rat’s sharp features like an old fashioned explosion. Hog can’t help but take his eyes off the road to admire him. Rat’s hands close together, pressing under his chin and cradling the detonator between them. A big, goofy smile is plastered on his face, his pupils blown wide, awed and enraptured. Hog almost finds himself jealous of the way he can ogle a non-sentient explosion but Rat tears his stare away to grin over at him. He’s lit up like a Renaissance painting where the artist went overboard showing off his abilities to depict lights and shadows, illuminating every ridge and bump on his face in warm flames and casting every line and crevice in shadow. It makes Hog’s heart hitch a little bit every time he sees him like this, bright eyes and freshly singed hair and adoration.

“Sorry ya had to miss it, mate!” Rat closes his metal hand on the burning end of Hog’s ponytail, tugging the fire out affectionately. “One of the most beautiful things I’ve seen!”

“I saw.”

**Author's Note:**

> I figured out how to organize my Google docs into folders, so I was going through old one-shots I started a couple months ago and found this one pretty much ready to go. I was amused at how close to canon my description Rat's pyrophilia turned out to be (I didn't change anything here to fit it). Boy loves his fire.
> 
> Edit 9.16.18: Fucking amazing banner and artwork done by [Armatage Shanks](https://armatages.tumblr.com/)! I'm so blessed to have such a supportive, talent friend. Her [Commissions](http://armatages.tumblr.com/post/174552759013/icons-12-one-character-headshot-sketchy-style/) are open- her fanfic banners and illustrations are really one-of-a-kind. She's amazing at getting the perfect mood and aesthetic for every fic. Check her out!
> 
> Come chat with me about Roadrat! [Thyme-Basalt](https://thyme-basalt.tumblr.com/)


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